3 UW-MADISON SENIORS AMONG 7 INDICTED IN DRUG CASE

Four Madison residents - including three UW-Madison seniors - were among
seven people indicted this week in Dane County's largest-ever ecstasy
distribution bust.

Two federal indictments were unsealed Friday charging the seven with being
involved in a scheme to ship the illegal stimulant from Pennsylvania and
Florida to Wisconsin, where it was sold on or near the UW-Madison campus.

An indictment charges that six people took part in a conspiracy between
January 2000 and Dec. 10, 2001, to distribute more than 100,000 ecstasy
pills. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim O'Shea could discuss few details of the
case, but he said that during the investigation agents intercepted a
package that contained $31,250 in cash.

Arrested Friday morning in Madison were Ashkan Farhadieh, 21, an
international relations and political science major from Oakbrook, Ill.,
who was charged in six counts of the indictment; Ghassan Majdalani, 21, a
communications arts major from Oshkosh who faces one count; and Matthew
Louie, 22, an international relations major from Williamsburg, Va., who
faces two counts.

Farhadieh's brother, Paymon, 23, of New York City, faces one count of the
indictment and Steven Larson, 25, of Los Angeles, was named in six counts.
Penn State University spokesman Tysen Kendig said both are 2000 graduates
of Penn State. It was there that they allegedly became involved in the
scheme, authorities said.

Also arrested was Augusto Rodriguez, 24, of Miami, who was named in six
counts of the indictment.

A second indictment charges Steven Santana, 30, of Madison, with one count
of distributing ecstasy and two counts of possession.

Authorities said they seized11,000 pills.

All seven men face up to 20 years in prison on each count.

The volume of the drug involved easily makes this Dane County's largest
ecstasy case. Lt. Brian Ackeret, who heads the Dane County Narcotics and
Gang Task Force, said it dwarfs a drug seizure in 2000 that yielded 600
pills, and one in 2001 that yielded 1,000 pills.

"It's definitely a drug that is on the increase, not only here but
nationally," Ackeret said.

On the UW-Madison campus, officials are on alert about ecstasy's growing
popularity.

"This should be a wake-up call for not only law enforcement but for the
entire community that this is a problem and that it is more widespread and
serious than any of us realized," said UW-Madison Police Capt. Dale Burke.

Roger Howard, interim dean of students at UW-Madison, said anyone caught
selling drugs to students would be punished harshly.

"I'm alarmed whenever I hear of students or anybody around students engaged
in these kinds of drug sales," he said. "Drug sellers in my experience have
very little concern for the safety and health of their clients."

Ecstasy is a stimulant with hallucinogenic properties often distributed at
night clubs or late-night parties. It can cause severe dehydration or
exhaustion. Overdose symptoms include high blood pressure, faintness, panic
attacks, seizures and a drastic rise in body temperature. The drug was
blamed for the death of a Madison teen in 2000.